I can remember the moment I learned I could fly! As a child and into adulthood, I loved to run. One day our family was picnicking at Mt. Madonna Park outside Watsonville, CA. We were climbing around and exploring the old ruins of Henry Miller's summer home. (Miller had been a local cattle baron in the early 20th century.)
Our young imaginations were rebuilding the house: the porch, living room, kitchen, and bedrooms. What was it like to live on top of this mountain decades before?
I began running down the hill, leaping into the air as I ran. I covered large swaths of the downward slope with each leap. It felt like I was flying!
My parents were shouting words of caution -- about being careful, slowing down, not falling or twisting an ankle. But I survived... and reached the bottom of the trail way ahead of anyone else!
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| Do you believe in yourself? (Photo credit: Taking a Leap of Faith in Yourself, Lakefront Psychology) |
This memory came back several years later when I was on my high school's cross-country team. A county-wide race was scheduled at Mt. Madonna, covering the trail that I flew down years before. What was different? I was competing against people much better than me!
The exuberance of childhood had been replaced by coached strategies of when to pass an opponent, ways to conserve or apply energy, and how to psyche out another runner. The freedom of flying was gone. Rather than reaching the end of the race ahead of everyone else, I felt that I had failed to fly.
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| What words of caution undermine our confidence? (Photo credit: What Failing Students Want Us to Remember, Edutopia) |
Now, many years past those high school competitions, I still remember when I could fly... and when I could not.
We carry these messages of freedom, hope, caution, and being grounded throughout life. It seems to be the human experience of understanding our Unlimited Spirits of creativity, energy, love, and connection encased in our Limited Bodies.
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| What would you say if you could fly? (Photo credit: What if I Fall? poem, Erin Hanson) |
How then do we fly again? Through listening, encouraging, dreaming, imagining, and creating a better world of possibilities and opportunities... for family, friends, work colleagues... and strangers.
Our invitation is to believe in one another! Let’s learn to fly… together!
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| Larry Gardepie (click on link for website) |
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